·
2024: US ambassador warns taoiseach of ‘consequences’ if OTB passes, offers to ‘connect’ attorney general with DC for ‘best outcome’ 90 minutes later: Micheál Martin announces ‘review’ of bill 2026: scraps ban on services because of ‘potential impacts on US multinationals’
Every major underground missile base in Iran is now back in operation, either fully or partially About 80% of all tunnel entrances that were collapsed during the war have been restored as of this moment. Some minor clearing still needs to happen in heavy hit places like Tabriz, Khorammabad and Kermanshah. @Middle_East_Spectator
May 22, 2026 #iran#dwcurrentaffairs#ai
During the Iran war, AI‑made Lego cartoons and memes have become surprisingly influential. They look chaotic and even silly—stuff you’d think couldn’t matter. But millions are watching, partly because the content isn’t asking anyone to believe anything, just to feel something. Chapters: 0:00 Iran’s AI Lego cartoons 0:51 The battle for attention over truth 1:43 Peter Benzoni, Institute for Strategic Dialogue 3:34 What are Iran’s messages? 6:15 Another Lego clip 8:21 The audience Iran is targetting 10:28 The hypocrisy of Iran
POPE ON AI The Pope’s 42,000-word verdict on AI Image source: Images 2.0 / The RundownThe Rundown: Pope Leo XIV just released Magnifica Humanitas, his first encyclical, to the Church’s 1.4B members, warning that a moral AI means nothing “if that morality is determined by a few” and calling to “disarm” the tech before it dominates humanity. The details: Leo warned that AI’s drivers are private, transnational companies that already surpass the capacity of many governments, and that the tech is never neutral. He called for making AI “human-friendly” and freeing it from monopolistic control, warning it risks reducing people to cogs in an efficiency machine. Leo called for “robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users, and a political system that does not abdicate its responsibility.” On warfare, he said lethal decisions must never be delegated to AI and that “no algorithm can make war morally acceptable.” Anthropic’s Christopher Olah also joined the Pope, saying “every frontier AI lab operates inside incentives that can conflict with doing the right thing.” Why it matters: The Pope issues only a handful of encyclicals, and dedicating one to AI signals how seriously the Catholic Church is taking what’s coming. Leo sees AI as the Industrial Revolution of our time, and he’s chosen a partner that has been the most vocal about AI safety and most willing to say no to unrestricted AI use by the military. |
